Stevens Point struggling to get mail delivered on time

STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WSAW) - The U.S. Postal Service is feeling the crunch of staffing shortages like the private sector, and communities like Stevens Point are seeing gaps in service.

Stevens Point’s Warren Rudy says he went nine business days without getting mail, “I have to pay my bills. I went into collections two months ago for the same thing. I didn’t get a bill until after it was already due.”

The post office is doing its best to keep up, but they have fewer carriers than routes right now. “Neither rain nor sleet nor dark of night, but staffing shortages will definitely affect your mail service,” says Stevens Point Mayor Mike Wiza.

Mayor Wiza suggests a P.O. box if you need to get your mail daily, or signing up for informed delivery in your email so you know when to expect mail. His own carrier says most of them are working double shifts. “When they’re done with their route, they go back and do another route,” Wiza says.

Rudy says he understands it’s not the fault of the post office or the carriers. He remembers the recession of the 1980s when a job like this would not be empty for long. “Fifteen percent unemployment, 20 percent inflation rate. I mean, it was way more than what we have now, and when there was a job like this, applicants went around the block,” Rudy said.

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